


Hello, Family!

by anawesomeblossom



Category: Shall We Date?: Love Tangle
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 03:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16032083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anawesomeblossom/pseuds/anawesomeblossom
Summary: Set after both Yangzi and Lumiere’s Hello Baby stories, this story explores the dynamic of their shared families.





	Hello, Family!

The ice rink where he usually coached at was only a short bus trip from home. In fact when they bought the house, that had been a major selling point for him (that and the only place that served decent larb ped was only a block away).

As they say, location, location, location. 

And within twenty minutes they were located right at home at the front door, one of many in a block of brick rowhouses in one of Kaleido's better neighborhoods. Their door was always the most special one, though, because it was theirs in both heart and deed. He would never smile while fumbling with the keys to get in, but it always thawed his heart a bit knowing that any second they were going to cross the threshold and finally be home once more.

But someone didn't seem too enthused.

"Dad, do I have to do homework right now?" his cute yet stoic daughter protested as they went inside, referring back to one of their conversations on the bus after skating practice. "I'm too tired."

How did seven-year-olds even get tired? he wondered as he sighed and took off their coats after closing the door, vaguely responding in turn, "Michelle, you know the rules..." 

(The rules tended to be that Dad was a pushover when it came to allowing some rest between activities while Mom was the one who wanted everything to be finished for the day before anyone rested, and so he placed his hand on his daughter's head as a brief sign of apology.)

They heard a voice from a room or two away, likely signaled by the closing of the door and Michelle's spoken words, saying: "Yangzi? Michelle? Is that you?"

Indeed it was them. Yangzi haphazardly kicked off his shoes while placing his daughter's neatly where they were supposed to be. 

"Yeah, honey, we're home."

There was silence for one second, two seconds, three seconds, four--

"MICHELLE!" It was another voice this time, one that caused Yangzi a headache at least once a day, barely accompanied by a blur as she whizzed past and grabbed on to his daughter, stealing her away into the night (or, you know, the play room).

Again, Yangzi sighed and said to pretty much nothing at that point as he collapsed on the entryway bench, "Hi Titania, how was your day?" Of course, Titania was long gone. She rarely sat still at that age, although the same could be said of Michelle when she was the ripe old age of five as well.

"Did she just...?" asked Lumiere apologetically as he came into the foyer with Julia.

Almost simultaneously, Julia rushed up to him with a hug. 

"Welcome home, Yangzi."

Then Lumiere laughed, and he had been in the process of getting out a word of welcome when the authoritative voice of his princess overshadowed all:

"KING DADDY, THE COURT NEEDS YOU!"

"Ah! Alas, Yangzi, I must--"

"DAAAADDDYYYYYYY!!"

"Fine, fine..."

Julia laughed while Yangzi shook his head.

"Anyway, I'll let you get settled in, but as soon as you're able, can you help me with dinner?"

It was a simple enough task, so he nodded, appreciating the time alone. After all, tonight was a special night...the Vegasus Nationals. 

The texts were already coming in from colleagues he had met during his time as a professional figure skater as well as texts from fellow coaches within his network, wanting to know his thoughts about sportscaster analysis, the judges, who was going to blow it out of the water this year... It was well appreciated, even though he represented and supported Kaleido's talent now as a coach. Analyzing the Vegasus Nationals was top on his to-do list that night because the Internationals, which a client of his would be participating in, was closing in each minute that passed.

He took a moment to answer some of the texts and emails, and to spread some thoughts on a popular social media network, where his account had thousands of followers as fans and members of the industry. The big event was trending, even. Figure skating wasn't the most popular sport in the world, so he took pride in its popularity when it came. Briefly he wondered even if there was some form of media out there that incurred an increased interest in ice skating.

Already in game mode, he brought out his tablet and turned on the living room television to the sports channel covering the event. With a stylus, he was in the middle of jotting down the names of key players when he was interrupted with

"...I thought you said you were going to help me with dinner."

Yangzi blinked. Of course, yeah, dinner, but he had just... Then Julia's eyebrows arched, her mouth tightened, and at once he knew That Look. If he didn't get up to the kitchen right then there would be hell to pay.

"Yeah, yeah..."

As he followed Julia into the kitchen, he figured that by the time they were finished the actual performances were due to start, and he could always do prep-work for a formal analysis for his clients and social media fans later while he gathered his thoughts. The ones he would give live would be quick and fleeting, 140 characters or less. After all, watching and analysing the main event was going to be key tonight if he expected to--

"So, the rice paper rolls are right there on the counter if you wanted to get started... I brought out everything I think you would want, so I'm sorry if I missed something," Julia interrupted his thoughts with a quick flourish of her hand. Next to the spring roll station she begun work on a chicken and mushroom concoction with a red wine reduction that was starting to smell familiar.

"Hey, we had that before, right? When Lumiere, uh..." Yangzi laughed, "when Lumiere decided to make it."

Her giggle was small as her focus was large when she prepped the chicken, "Yeah, and you and the kids secretly ordered take-out."

It was his turn to laugh then.

"Oh, you knew about that?"

"How couldn't I? I smelled it, and I was so jealous!"

They both laughed as it was for the best that Lumiere was off entertaining the girls.

"Well, sorry, you seemed to be okay with eating it, otherwise I would have..."

For a second she put her hand on his before removing it to work on the mushrooms next, and then admitted, "I knew you guys weren't going to eat it, and I didn't want to waste all the time he spent making it..."

With a smirk, Yangzi declared, "Well that was in the past, and we're gonna make this coq au vin even better this time."

"Coq au vin...with spring rolls!"

He snorted. "Yeah, with spring rolls."

For a moment he supposed it was probably touching that Julia tried so hard to integrate varying national foods of comfort into their lives, but honestly even if they ate store-bought mac and cheese every day, that would have been all right with him (...as long as Lumiere didn't cook it).

"Hey, Yangzi," she said after about a minute of silence, "there's something I want to talk to you about."

At once he gulped. He hated hearing that phrase because it always brought something uncomfortable for him to think about. Why didn't she just go into what she wanted to talk about normally without sounding off the alarms?

"You know how this Saturday...."

It was their big getaway celebration for their tenth anniversary, that's what it was.

"Michelle's having her first sleepover with friends," Yangzi finished, knowing intuitively what the direction of her concern might be. At least, he hoped. Or, rather, it was his concern all along.

Julia nodded, much to his relief.

"I think she'll be all right," Julia began, "and I know we're prepared to go get her if something goes south, but I am worried about when she sees her friend's family and compares it to ours. Or when the other girls talk about their families, and she realizes that ours is...different."

Yangzi shook his head. "Nah, I don't think it's that big of a deal. At that age, kids are pretty self-oriented. They'll probably just talk about all the things that interest them."

At least, he hoped and wished that after secretly reading a parenting book or two during his commute on the bus.

"You're probably right," she said as she moved to the side to lay her head on his shoulder, "but it's just been eating away at me all week."

"Nah, nah," Yangzi dismissed as he attempted to reassure her, "don't worry about it. I mean, think of who her father is--"

"I'm worrying."

"--And rea--"

Julia burst into laughter as Yangzi's face changed from an optimistically inspiring one to that of abject despair at her words.

He snorted again, and she laughed some more.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized, "but seriously, I want to have a talk with her before Saturday...about family."

"Yeah, I get it," Yangzi confessed uncomfortably while slightly turning away from her. "I mean, remember when she started school this year and asked if we were divorced of all things based on something her heckin' teacher said?"

"We just said 'no,' which seemed to reassure her, but sometimes I wonder if--"

"I think Michelle is smart enough to ask questions if she thinks she doesn't understand," interrupted Yangzi, resolutely almost, and Julia simply nodded in agreement.

When he finished with the spring rolls, he helped her bring everything to the skillet, leaving it to simmer for a while. He had a good, what, half an hour or so until everything was done? The Nationals were just about to actually start. This was a prime time to sneak downstairs into the so-called 'Man Cave' to get some work done.

"Right, see you," he said quickly once his work was done, leaving Julia alone with her thoughts in the kitchen as he grabbed his tablet and headed downstairs.

As he flicked on the light, he was comforted by the soothing, warm tones of said 'Man Cave', decorated floor to ceiling with his trophies, outfit designs by Lumiere, photos of Kaleido leopards, newspaper clippings about the highlights of their careers, and, more recently, an award of Michelle's. Yet again he sighed, more pleasantly this time as he plopped himself on the familiar couch and turned on that familiar sports network.

But he was only comfortable and able to concentrate on his work for so long before...

"WE NEED TO WATCH SAILOR GALAXY AND FRIENDS!"

Ah, Titania.

"And I'm going to do my homework, too."

He turned his head to look at the hopeful little girl carrying a textbook and paper and the enthusiastic littler girl sporting a cool tiara...and Lumiere behind them, looking entirely apologetic.

"Fine, fine," he acquiesced, realizing the theme of futile resistance that day.

At once, everyone crowded in and Michelle was the one to take charge of the remote control and switch it to her favorite channel where almost immediately a catchy theme song started to play. Titania started dancing and Michelle bobbed her head as Lumiere settled into the couch next to Yangzi.

The girls had good timing, to say the least.

"Bravo, girls, we did it! We completed the quest, and--"

"SHHH, DADDY, WE'RE TRYING TO WATCH."

Lumiere gave a defeated chuckle as he extended his arm on the backrest behind Yangzi, settling into the couch while acting as if numerous pounds had just been lifted from his shoulders and it was the first time all day he had grasped some rest (and while on kid-watching duty, that may have actually been closer to the truth). He looked over to Yangzi, exhaustion and vulnerability coloring his face, and whispered, "There's no pleasing them, is there?"

Yangzi snorted in response, not envious of Lumiere's position as he grabbed his tablet and left, giving a simple "I'll be upstairs," as his parting words.

The Invasion of the Hallowed Man Cave was a common enough occurence despite the playroom sporting a television specifically for the girls to watch Sailor Galaxy and Friends, Princess Sparklepony, and whatever other drivel they were obsessed with at the moment. But what was the point in having a television in there if they were just going to flock to the room where someone else was watching something first? Julia actually had a theory, come to think of it, that the television and its location was irrelevant as far as the children's needs went, and that the children were actually seeking, um, companionship? Even though they had each other? A need to share excitement and joy in their limited community as a resource in itself? Something like....that?

He was going to have to ask Julia again about that theory.

Now, back in the living room, Yangzi settled down again with the sports network, praying he wouldn't be interrupted again. He lounged comfortably on the couch, armed with his trusty phone and tablet as he juggled his attention between the two devices and what was happening on the television screen. According to the schedule and his social media feed, he had missed the first performance, although it seemed to be nothing to write home about. That was fine because he had the rest of the night to take in.

For the next half hour he was able to draft up some general thoughts to use for his formal analysis as well as quickly air off on social media thoughts about the sportscaster commentary, the pair of performances he managed to see, and how delicious dinner was starting to smell. He even was able to respond to a few comments on his posts when, once again...

"IIIIIIIIT'S PRINCESS SPARKLEPONY TIME!"

At that point Yangzi had been in the zone and was starting to lose patience.

"Seriously?" he asked in a tone sharper than he had intended.

"UM...YEAH?"

Lumiere was right behind Titania, and Yangzi could definitely see the exhaustion practically hanging over and gripping him in a tight embrace. It was in his mannerisms, it was in his voice as he explained, "Sorry, Yangzi, but Miss Velociraptor didn't want to watch Princess Sparklepony, and--"

"PRINCESS SPARKLEPONY TIME!" Titania interrupted and went for the remote, deftly changing the channel in a practiced motion. If Yangzi wasn't so irritated he would be quite proud that she had mastered full use of the control while her mother still struggled to tell the difference between the volume and channel buttons.

But the fact remained that he was irritated - irritated and conceding defeat, and the theme song for Princess Sparklepony (season three, not as good as the first two) only heralded that.

"Do whatever you want, I..."

He set his tablet aside as Titania almost body-slammed on top of him - "oof!" - while Lumiere still stood in the doorway with a complicated expression.

"DADDY, WATCH PRINCESS SPARKLEPONY WITH US!"

"The more the merrier," added Yangzi dryly as he set his attention to his phone, feeling the headache coming on again as he was trying to gather context of the ongoing performance from his social media feed.

"YEAH!"

Lumiere was a bit more delicate than his daughter when it came to joining Yangzi on the couch, choosing not to bodyslam but instead to carefully position himself next to him in a slight hug. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he rest his head on Yangzi's shoulder, "I know you were doing something, but--"

"SHHH, DADDY."

What did Lumiere think he was trying to pull, talking while Princess Sparklepony was on? 

Honestly, if Yangzi considered himself a pushover when it came to his daughter then Lumiere was even worse than that. Again, he didn't envy his role in manning the girls today in the slightest, and even he could see the vitality and life they pulled from him. It wasn't to say that children were a drain because far be it - the girls were a constant source of pride, wonder, and love - but for the first time actually he wondered if Lumiere could have used help just as Julia did cooking dinner.

He felt his phone buzz and with it came a text from Lumiere - despite him being literally right there:

>What's wrong?

What was wrong? Yangzi asked himself and aside from not being able to participate in the Vegasus Nationals as much as he wanted, not much else.

>Nothing

>Truly?

>Truly??

>I'm being serious Yangzi is there something wrong?

Yangzi looked over at Lumiere inches away from him, looking up at him with a complicated expression, and at once he felt he was missing something.

>Nothing wrong just wanted 2 watch tv

Again he looked over at Lumiere and could tell that his answer wasn't cutting it for some reason.

Fortunately he was saved by the bell - well, the dinner bell - okay, Julia saying that dinner was ready.

The moments that passed between then and finally sitting down at the table were a blur (and they always were with children). In between trying to actually turn the television off and everyone's hands washed, there were some arguments and fruitlessly attempted negotiations, the sensation of truly becoming 'one' with the meaning of the word 'hangry', hiding in the closet for the first time, and even a brief bout of crying (we're not going to say from who). 

In the end Julia gave up calling everyone to dinner and instead forcibly escorted them to their designated positions at the table. If she felt frazzled by the exchange then there was no indication of it in her demeanor as she saw to it that everyone had a helping of what they would reasonably eat on their plates. 

After all, there was a reason why Lumiere frequently joked despite Yangzi's posturing that she was actually the one in charge.

"I think," Julia began once everyone had a full plate, "that we should go around the table and each of us should describe something that makes us feel thankful."

"What a wonderful idea, Miss Fairy!" Lumiere exclaimed as he jumped aboard. After all, he was the only one aside from Julia who hadn't yet begun eating. "I would be honored to start. May I?"

"Go right ahead."

As Lumiere cleared his throat and scanned the table, he said with a flourish of his hand, "I am thankful...for each and every one of you being in my life. The past decade has brought about the most wonderful years filled with light and love. For a time, I didn't know how I could be happier, and then you came into our lives Miss Velociraptor."

"HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME?"

"For a time I thought my happiness was complete," he continued steadily, "I didn't know how I could be happier, but then you came along, too, my darling Princess. Now I truly feel not just happy but absolutely blessed to have each and every one of you here with me. Thank you all."

Yangzi snorted slightly because leave it to Lumiere to turn a simple activity into a grand declaration of love, but he also couldn't help but smile a little. He felt very similarly, after all, even if he would never express those feelings to everyone so sappily.

"You're welcome," Michelle mentioned as she was about to munch on a mushroom. Short and simple, that was his girl.

"YEAH! I'M HAPPY, TOO!" That was Titania, excited and full of love as the said Princess exclaimed, "I'M THANKFUL FOR MY FAMILY!"

Julia giggled and placed her hand on top of Lumiere's, "Lumiere, that was a wonderful sentiment. Titania, sweetie, you, too!" Then she turned her attention to Yangzi and at that moment he found something in her gaze that was more expectant than usual. 

"What about you, Yangzi? What are you thankful for?"

Of course there was plenty he was thankful for but that didn't mean he had to go confessional at dinner - or at all.

"I'm just thankful the chicken's not burned this time."

Titania unintentionally took the sting out of the withering, disappointed look that both Julia and Lumiere gave Yangzi and added her own two cents, "YEAH! LAST TIME IT WAS BURNED!"

"And gross," Michelle chimed in, and Yangzi couldn't help but laugh because it had really been that bad.

"I didn't think it gross at all!" Lumiere tried to defend. "I even had it every day for lunch."

Julia just put her head in her hand and admitted, "Well, you were the only one who ate it..."

"How?" Michelle laughed as she pushed some of her food around before scooping it up and eating it.

"What do you mean how?"

"All right, all right, gross chicken is in the past," Julia ruled, putting any further discussion about it in the past as well as she tried to get them back on a more pleasant topic. "Michelle, what about you? What are you thankful for?"

She scrunched her lips together and tapped her chin for an extended period of time before Yangzi lost patience and added, "C'mon, I had to answer so you answer, too."

"I'm thankful for..." she finally drew the words out as she spoke, "...Lumiere calling me Miss Velociraptor now. Instead of Miss Pixie."

"...And I have so many questions about that that no one will answer me," Julie admitted flatly, giving up on this heartwarming family scenario that she had so many hopes and dreams about.

Michelle smiled and responded, "I'm clever...and so are velociraptors. They are so much cooler than Pixies!"

"Miss Fairy, my love, it was all age-appropriate and no one had nightmares," Lumiere yet again defended even though he probably should have left it with Michelle's response.

"I DID!"

"You did not."

"You told me you dreamed you were a T-Rex... How is that a nightmare?"

"BUT I DIDN'T GET TO EAT ANYBODY."

"Not even the guy on the toilet?" Yangzi added.

"NOOOOO! THAT WAS GROSS!"

He laughed, but then again so did she so all was right.

"And...what about you, Miss Fairy?" Lumiere asked softly, guilty for being part of the derailment of her touching family moment.

Much like Yangzi, she snorted dryly and shook her head, "I'm thankful I get to go to work for most of the day..."

\---

In the end, Yangzi never did get back to watching the Vegasus Nationals. 

His social media feed was left hanging because right after dinner it was discovered that Michelle never did actually do her homework despite saying she would, so he had to take some time to make sure she was doing all right with it. Julia helped at the end when he became frustrated with the content, and they swapped places so that he could take care of washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen.

Then were was bath time drama when Titania only wanted her mother to help with a bath, so again Julia swapped with Lumiere while Yangzi was content in the kitchen, again trying to gather context about the performances through social media. But it turned out that Lumiere was no help for Michelle's homework in comparison to her Dr. Mom. About that time Yangzi was done with the kitchen and tried to help with homework, but in the end they just ended up using a search engine for basic concepts and Michelle became frustrated and decided it was time for bed. At the time same Julia was tucking in Titania for bed, so really that was kind of a winning scenario? If someone squinted at it and wished fervently?

At least, Yangzi declared it so and once again attempted to watch the last of the performances that night, however, both Julia and Lumiere cornered him and had other plans...

Which led to them being sweaty but satisfied in their shared bedroom.

Neither Lumiere nor Julia spoke much, keeping Yangzi in the middle as they held each others hand or stroked each others arm before moving to his chest. They were still coming down after experiencing a great fall, and for a while he had one hand planted on each of them, even giving them both soft kisses on their bodies before his curiosity about what he missed during the Vegasus Nationals took hold of him once he had exited the zone.

He reached over Lumiere for his phone.

At once both of them protested with a disgusted sigh and a harsh "really?" It wasn't as if this was a minor irritation once but rather something that had been building all night.

"What?" What was the big deal?

"You've been on your phone all day!" That was Lumiere, rising up to rest on his elbow as he somewhat hovered over Yangzi, comfortably on his back again with his cell phone while checking the comments.

"Since you got home, you've just been so distant," Julia added, rolling over to her side to face him.

He felt kind of cornered if he was honest. "The Vegasus Nationals are today... What the heck is the big deal? I just want to check on how things are going! I mean, you know this is for my work, right?"

With that, Lumiere backed down a bit because in a sense he understood, but Julia was still coming strong.

"You can look at that later," Julia said, looking him directly in his eye, "but the day of our ten year anniversary only comes once."

...Wait, what?

He looked at Lumiere, and he looked at Julia, and both of them seemed to be gazing at him with the same intensity.

"But," he protested, a bit weak against that strong gaze of Julia's, "we're celebrating our tenth anniversary of us together...this weekend. And besides, the actual anniversary is...tomorrow."

There was a second, then another second, before Julia and Lumiere looked at each other and decided, "No, the actual day of our tenth anniverary is today, Yangzi."

And it so, totally, was not.

It was so totally not that Yangzi just laughed which disarmed them both.

"This is all because you think I've been distant on our anniversary as a triad? When it's not actually our anniversary?"

"It is," Julia firmly maintained. "It's on our calendar. But I guess you wouldn't know because you won't get the same kind of phone as us..."

"Honey," and that honey referred them both, "today is not our anniversary. Do you remember the day we decided we were all going to be together? What event was happening in the background?"

Julia had been the one to argue, but it was Lumiere who took out his phone and added, "It was actually the Vegasus Nationals ten years ago, wasn't it?"

She nodded, remembering. "It was the first time you weren't a part of it since you were skating for Kaleido then."

"Aaaand," Yangzi said with a shit-eating grin, "what date was that?"

Lumiere at once dropped back to the bed and outstretched his hand to Julia, who grabbed his phone to read.

"I'm so stupid," he moaned as she gasped, "but it's in our calendar as today!"

"What?" She clutched his phone. And there she verified that the anniversary of the Vegasus Nationals ten years ago...was tomorrow. "How did we make this mistake?"

Yangzi shrugged. "Maybe you two with your synced calendars made a mistake when you upgraded phones this year? Not that I would know since I..."

"Oh shut up about your ancient phone," Lumiere pouted and kissed him deeply. 

Julia followed suit with a "just shut up entirely" which made the three of them laugh and then kissed him deeply, too.

Not a bad end to a not-anniversary if he did say so himself.


End file.
